Concerns are mounting over the integrity of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) after Members of Parliament revealed that the Ministry of Education may not have an accurate count of learners in public and private schools.
The revelation comes amid allegations that NEMIS data has been manipulated, with some records reportedly erased.
The management system, designed to capture crucial learner information, has been draw questions following discrepancies flagged by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
In the audit report for the 2022/23 financial year, currently under review by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, highlighted issues regarding the ownership of NEMIS and the impact of capitalization funds in schools.
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While Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok recently stated that 12.6 million is the current number of learners in primary, junior secondary, and secondary schools, disclosure by Fredrick Mujumba, a senior official at the State Department for Basic Education, suggest otherwise.
Mujumba, who heads the Kenya Education Management Information System (NEMIS), informed the committee that the platform is undergoing replacement. He further admitted that the deletion of learner data from the system may have compromised the accuracy of records.
Adding to the controversy, MP Tindi Mwale revealed that some learners have been removed from NEMIS at various points, not necessarily at the school level. He cited instances where IT operators, reportedly involved in the system’s management, removed learners because they had not been paid.
The Auditor-General’s report revealed weaknesses in the Nemis system, prompting the government to undertake a re-engineering effort that cost Ksh239.8 million as part of the Primary Education Development project.
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Amid these controversies, PS Bitok assured MPs that the government has accurate learner data, though this was met with doubts from Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members who requested an audit.
The PS stated, “We know the number of learners because we have them,” adding that the migration to Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis) was based on recommendations from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.”
The PS also noted that 12.6 million learners are distributed across primary (6.4 million), senior secondary (3.3 million), and junior secondary schools (2.9 million). However, the cost of migrating to the new system was not disclosed.
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Dr. Ojiambo and Nabii Nabwera, questioned the data’s integrity. Dr. Ojiambo stated,
“The State Department does not know the number of learners in schools across the country.” Nabii Nabwera went further, alleging direct manipulation for financial gain
“Manipulation of Nemis is the greatest threat to capitation management. It has become a channel for the siphoning of funds.” He provided a stark example: “Principals have reported that by the end of the day, a school may have 300 learners recorded in the system, only for the number to drop to 100 the next morning.”
The strengthening of Nemis included installing a secondary site on a government cloud infrastructure to enhance resources like processing, storage, load balancing, monitoring, scalability, and security.
By Benedict Aoya
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